Nicetas of Dacien

ON ST. NICETAS, BISHOP OF THE DACIANS

After the year 401.

Nicetas, Bishop in Dacia (St.)

From St. Paulinus.

§ I. The first coming of St. Nicetas to Italy.

[1] The Roman Calendar thus celebrates this Apostolic man on the 7th of the Ides of January January 7: "In Dacia, St. Nicetas the Bishop, who rendered the fierce and barbarous nations gentle and mild by the preaching of the Gospel." The birthday of St. Nicetas. Concerning him, St. Paulinus writes near the end of Epistle 10 to Severus: "In which regard, both to the venerable and most learned Bishop Nicetas, who had come from Dacia, rightly the wonder of the Romans, and to very many of God's Saints, I disclosed you, boasting in truth no more as your proclaimer than mine." Paulinus is speaking of the life of St. Martin, written by Severus while Martin was still alive, which, having been communicated to him by Severus, he read to Melania and Bishop St. Nicetas. Ancient Dacia comprised part of Hungary, Transylvania, and several neighboring provinces. That Nicetas preached in Dacia will be evident below from the route of his journey — lest anyone should suspect that he went to Denmark, which was called Dacia by writers of the Middle Ages. Denmark received the faith later.

[2] When he came to Italy. That first coming of Nicetas to Italy occurred in the year 397, when Paulinus composed his fifth Birthday Poem of St. Felix — as Baronius shows at that year, number 10, and from him our Rosweydus in his Notes on Paulinus's Epistle 10.

[3] For what reason. "But he who, coming from Dacia" (says Baronius at the cited passage, number 15), "appeared admirable to the Romans, as Paulinus says — who can doubt that he became equally known to the Roman Pontiff and that he visited the thresholds of the Apostles? For if he undertook so long and difficult ^a pilgrimage for no other cause than visiting holy places, by Paulinus's assertion, could he have passed by the venerable Shrines of the Apostles, most famous throughout the whole world from antiquity, and not approached them, leaving them unvisited — he who went to Nola on account of the sepulchre of St. Felix? He seems to have come to consult the Pope. Certainly (if it is permitted sometimes to argue from probable conjecture drawn from similar examples), it is not reasonable to believe that one who carried on so great ^a burden of the Apostolate among barbarous nations, burdened under the weight of so great an undertaking, as if on holiday from all works, traversed so many intervening provinces to come again to Italy, unless the greatest necessity of consulting the principal Apostolic See had pressed upon him."

§ II. The second coming, in the year 401.

[4] Four years later, St. Nicetas came to Italy again, as the same Paulinus testifies in his ninth Birthday Poem, in which he sings much of his Nicetas. And because it should be considered ^a great honor to be praised by so praised ^a man, it will not be tedious to transcribe ^a portion of that poem, from which one may judge how greatly Paulinus esteemed the learning and sanctity of life of Nicetas, and with what great kindness he embraced him. He writes thus:

"Hail, dear day, hail to me, my light, hail! He is praised by St. Paulinus. Always festive to me; but in this year you have risen And shone upon me more brightly, because with the honor of Felix You bring back Nicetas; so that in the love of two Saints I may have ^a double Birthday today, celebrating the passing Of the Martyr received in body, and beholding The bright countenance of the Priest present in body, Receiving Christ who lodges in ^a humble breast. Let my soul now exult and say what once The loving Bride sang to the Lord, her vocal Beloved: 'The rain has gone, the winter has departed, the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land; the vine gives forth its fragrance, And on earth we marvel at the lilies of heaven.' Whence, I pray, in ^a sudden reversal of the season, does the sky Bring spring, and flowers appear in the frozen fields? The Lord's anointed comes, accompanied by the friends of Christ — Nicetas! Hence winter turns to spring, hence everywhere A life-giving breeze breathes fragrant vapors for us. From this heart comes the spirit of ^a blessed field. His virtues. A life of chastity, and ^a mind bright with clear truth — These make Nicetas flowers and fragrant spring."

[5] And with ^a few words intervening:

"I see with present eyes before me That Nicetas has returned to me; and seeing my father, Whose love above all others reigns in me, I myself Become ^a Nicetas, bearing in my mind, His coming longed for by Paulinus. As the likeness of ^a blessed name, what now triumphs with victorious prayer. Therefore, beholding him come after ^a long time, far away, To your Birthday, most illustrious Felix, Shall I not confess that he has come, led by your hand? For who could fail to perceive by so clear ^a sign That this came about by your prayer — that what I could scarcely Have dared to hope for, or even imagine in dreams, I should again hold Nicetas face to face, at the very Birthday of Felix, both to see and to embrace, And once more sing my debt to you, O Felix, With him as my listener? But what shall I do, I ask? A poor man I sit at ^a rich man's table, and wretchedly dare to thrust My hand among great dishes; nor do I consider that I Ought to prepare such things in equal return as I receive, And offer ^a word worthy of such ^a judge. Therefore, holy one, enrich my poverty from your own supply, That I may speak things worthy of you as Patron And equally fitting for your friend."

[6] And again after ^a few lines:

"But since ^a divine utterance befits the honor of Felix, And since Nicetas, ^a servant and priest of the Lord, Already sent to me from ^a distant land, has come To this very day — ^a man as good in the mouth of his teacher As he is holy in his victorious spirit, or his conquered body. O if for me from the Cherubim with fiery tongs His learning. Someone would bring ^a coal taken from the altar of the Lord itself, And burn the sinfully fattened lips of the sinner, So that with ^a mouth purified of encrusted filth, Not as from my own mouth, but as from the mouth of the listener himself, I might draw and pronounce more worthily from my mouth; And the rough and sick speech of ^a stupid sinner Might neither violate chaste ears nor wound learned ones! But since my own teacher sits beside me, Closely placed opposite, I shall behold him, often looking with reverent Eye; perhaps from the mouth of the wise man, As once the barren flocks of the patriarch Jacob, I shall conceive fruitful thoughts in ^a sterile breast. For Nicetas too, blessed by the Lord, like that one, Similar to the patriarch Jacob. Is gentle; like Israel, ^a shepherd to sheep and goats alike, Before the pool of living water; but he too chose three Rods from ^a threefold tree with equal heart, By which, placed in the water, he calls the flock, and impregnates Those that come together, and colors the offspring conceived with three rods; So that from rods with bark stripped in varied patterns, The distinguished offspring of the holy flock may be approved. But the mark is not known to Laban's flock, but is the mark of life. For the mark of death is not to be renewed in Christ. Thus grace renews barren souls in the threefold name, And the Husband who is the Spirit fills them with the union of the Word, And the Church, fruitful with ^a virgin womb, marks within The offspring conceived for God, ^a mother of salvation, While, intent upon the three rods, she drinks the moist Seeds of the Word, and the inner countenance is signed with light. Hence the barren one has borne seven, and the abundant one has failed, As God enlarges the humble and humbles the proud. Thus I, seeing Nicetas, as if finding ^a spring, Ran like ^a thirsty sheep to the living streams, Parched, and at once felt my breasts swell; And gazing long at the face of the feeding teacher, I beheld the varied rods in his learned breast, And drank through fixed eyes the color I beheld, And his dew-laden mind sprinkled me with divine drops."

[7] And ^a little further on:

His presence inflames Paulinus. "Whence come these spirits of mine? What breeze lifts me up in pride? I do not recognize my swelling breast; ^a greater mind drives me. I feel Nicetas, who sits close beside me, and touches me, And, joined to my side, breathes near. The keen spirit of his panting enters me, And, powerfully stirring an unaccustomed fire in one meditating, Kindles my cold fibers with an applied fuel. But I shall restrain my swelling blasts, nor shall I, small as I am, Breathe to speak things too great for me, and I shall be carried back, A little man returned to the level ground, and walk with the modest foot of ^a humble song. Although I cannot proclaim the sublime merit of Felix Without praise of God, do you, holy one, with paternal Embrace receive me, Nicetas; and while I am sustained by your learned breast, Reclining my head upon your gentle heart, May your salt season my insipid self, and may Your rich vein water my thirsting senses with ^a perpetual stream. I shall say again rejoicing, and still scarcely Believing in this gift, I shall repeat my question: 'Tell me, I beg, have you returned? And do I hold you yourself, Nicetas — for whom until now, sick at heart, I have hung night and day with ^a wasting soul? You have come at last, restored to me after four years. But thanks be to Christ that he has brought you back, even if late. How I feared lest an enemy, shutting you off in the midst of the regions With an interposed cloud of wars, should hold you! But with desires overcoming, you have burst the barriers In our way; neither the sea, nor any labor, Nor the terrors of the Goths, nor cold harsh on long Journeys held you back. Truly, Nicetas, in such great Dangers you were at once overcome by affection, and the conqueror with kindness, Both strong and weak equally, but both powerfully: Overcome by friendship, overcome by love of Felix, You conquered harsh labors with tender piety. Now come, holy father, give me your mind and hand; Let us knot our joined palms in mutual bonds, And with our right hands clasped in alternating covenant, Let us sow various conversation as we walk together. I wish both to narrate and to show my father, He shows him the sacred buildings he has built. Anxious over all my doings during the entire time He was absent. For to whom by right should I rather recount my deeds And recount the things wrought for us by the hand of Felix Than to him whose care we are? Who by the double right of teacher And father, may approve the good deeds, condemn the bad, Correct errors, and calmly arrange what should be done; May assist the imperfect with prayers, and as Priest Dedicate the perfect; and so pass back and forth In the halls of Felix, as though he bore Felix himself In his whole heart, and gloried in his father's court.'"

Thus far Paulinus, who then entreats Nicetas to pour forth prayers to God for him. That Paulinus mentions Gothic terrors shows that Dacia was possessed by the Goths as their native land, as is evident from Aurelius Victor — and likewise Thrace, into which they had been imprudently admitted by Valens. Whether these were Getae, as many of the ancients wrote, or Guti, ^a people who came forth from Scandinavia, or Gothones or Gythones, inhabitants along the Vistula river, I do not discuss. This is certain from Aurelius Victor, that they and the Huns were defeated by Theodosius the Great in various battles — though not so thoroughly that they did not more often and more seriously afterwards molest the Romans. Concerning St. Felix, whom Paulinus here so often addresses and celebrates, we shall treat on January 14; concerning Paulinus himself on June 22.

§ III. The return of Nicetas to Dacia: nations converted by him.

[8] The peoples through whose territory Nicetas returned. There exists ^a Propemptikon of the same St. Paulinus to Nicetas returning to Dacia, from which I shall gather three things: the route of Nicetas, the nations converted by him, and his virtues. The following pertains to his route:

"You shall go far away to the Arctic Dacians, You shall go, to be seen in the twofold Epirus, And through the Aegean swells you shall reach Thessalonica. But now ^a road first through Apulian lands Shall carry you, spacious over ^a long plain, Where fleeces, dyed in Canusian purple, Glow. And when the road extends ^a little further, May Christ, I pray, grant you mild heat, And ^a light breeze blow without ^a cloud on the dry Calabrians. Conveyed through Hydruntum and Lupiae, Bands of unmarried brothers and sisters together Shall throng around you, singing the Lord With one mouth. Then, with the sea rising over the lands, The expanse of the Adriatic gulf shall submit, The waves shall lie down, and in ^a gentle Zephyr The sails shall swell. But with the strait crossed, the labor of roads Again on land remains, that you may be carried To those blessed shores to which you as Priest Have been appointed. You shall walk through the Philippian fields of Macedon, Through the city of Tomis, And you, ^a Dardanian guest, shall go to Scupi, Near your homeland."

[9] Thus Paulinus arranges the journey of Nicetas: leading him from Nola to Canusium, ^a city of Apulia, The route shown more explicitly. from Canusium to Lupiae in Calabria, thence to Hydruntum; then across the Adriatic gulf to Epirus, through Macedonia, and then across the Thermaic gulf of the Aegean Sea to Thessalonica, thence to Scupi and Tomis. But there will be those who may wish to retrace the entire route and aptly arrange the stopping-places. Since he will have departed from Nola and soon from the borders of Campania, the region of the Hirpini and part of the Apennines will have to be crossed; then, having traversed the plains of Apulia, he will arrive at Canusium, which is now called Canosa, and is situated on the right bank of the river Aufidus, which is now called the Ofanto or Lofanto. Having traversed all of Apulia, he will arrive in Calabria, and passing by Lupiae or Luppiae, or the Station of Luppia (which some learned men believe is now called Torre di San Cataldo, while others deny that any vestige of the ancient town survives), he will reach Hydruntum, which in Greek is Hydrus and is now commonly called Otranto.

[10] Having sailed from Hydruntum and crossed the Adriatic gulf, he will land in Epirus, which Paulinus calls twofold because in that very age it was divided into the old and the new, as is evident from the Notitia Imperii. Next, having traversed Macedonia and crossed the gulf of the Aegean Sea which they call Thermaic or Thermaean and Macedonian, he will land at Thessalonica, ^a most noble city. Thence he will seek Philippi, ^a celebrated city then, at the extreme borders of Macedonia in the province of Edonice — unless by "the Philippian fields of the Macedonians" one wishes to understand Macedonia in general, and "the fields ruled by not one Philip." Finally, having traversed ^a part of Thrace, he will reach Tomis, ^a city of Lower Mysia situated on the Black Sea (of which we treat on January 25 in the life of St. Britannio). Then he will travel through the Goths scattered through both Mysias and through Ripensian and Mediterranean Dacia, sowing the word of salvation; and he will visit Scupi, ^a city in Dardania, ^a province of Upper Mysia, not otherwise situated so great ^a distance from Italy.

[11] This was the route of Nicetas. The nations converted by him, or confirmed and cultivated in the religion they had previously received, are next to be reviewed. That he was born in those very regions may be conjectured from Paulinus, who writes:

"Until he is joyfully borne To his longed-for native city."

And then: The homeland of Nicetas.

"Be with us, even though you have come To your father's city. For God has not given you to be ^a teacher Of one people only, Nor ^a citizen of one land alone: behold, our homeland Claims you for itself. Now divide your affections with equal piety To both; and with love for us, With countenance for your citizens, dwell as citizen Of both shores. Perhaps this homeland is also to be considered the greater, Where you are contained not in dwellings Made by hands, but in hearts of men, And inhabit ^a living city."

And there was, about the same time, another Nicetas, ^a Goth, crowned with martyrdom under Athanaric in the same Dacia, as we shall say on September 15. But let us come to the holy labors and fruits of our Nicetas, and let us hear Paulinus speak of them.

[12] "O with what joys will that land Already then resound, where you teach the stiff-necked ones To bow their fierce necks to Christ In gentle submission! Nations converted by him. And where the North Wind in the Riphaean borders Binds the rivers with thick frost, Here you dissolve the frozen minds with heavenly Fire. For the Bessi, harsh in both land and soul, And harder than their own snow, Now made sheep, are gathered under your leadership Into the court of peace. And those necks that, ever untamed in war, Refused to bow to servitude, Now rejoice to prostrate themselves, subdued Beneath the yoke of the true Lord. Now the Bessian exults, richer in the price of his labor: What he formerly sought on the ground and with his hand, He now gathers in his mind from heaven — Gold."

Mountains formerly impassable and bloody Now shelter monks in place of converted bandits, Children of peace. A land once of blood is now of life. A pious violence of bandits is turned toward heaven, And Christ favors those who seize the kingdoms above By holy rapine. Where once was the custom of wild beasts, There now flourishes the manner of life of angels; And the just man hides in those caves where the bandit himself Once lived. Hail, Nicetas, good servant of Christ, Who grants you to turn stones into stars, And to build sacred temples with living Stones. You traverse pathless forests and vast ridges, While seeking the way, and overcoming the barren wood Of an uncultivated mind, you turn it into Fruitful fields."

[14] "The entire northern region calls you father, At your words the Scythian is softened, Barbarians made gentle. And the discordant savage lays down his fierce heart At your instruction. Both Getae come running, and both Dacians — He who dwells in the middle of the land, and he Who, clad in skins, rich in many cattle, inhabits The riverbank. This is to create calves from wolves, And to feed the lion yoked to the ox On straw, And to open the hollows of vipers To safe little children. For you persuade the beasts to mingle With the gentle flock, their wildness driven out — You who imbue the savage minds of men With your polished speech. In the silent region of the world, through you, Barbarians learn to make Christ resound With ^a Roman heart, and to live the peaceful life Of chastity. Thus the wolf is gentle in your sheepfold, The calf feeds in harmony with the lion, And the little child plays with the serpent Drawn from fierce caverns. You turn the cunning diggers of gold into gold, And having turned them, you yourself imitate them, From whom, digging with the living word, You extract gold."

[15] Paulinus says these and other things, and lists especially these nations as cultivated by Nicetas: the Ripensian Dacians, the Mediterranean Dacians, the Scythians, the Getae, the Bessi, and the Riphaeans. But if Nicetas visited these peoples — who in that case indeed traversed ^a vast extent of territory, since these are placed by geographers in the extreme North — he bore ^a correspondingly great amount of labor and hardship. Nor did he merely sprinkle these peoples lightly with heavenly doctrine, nor indeed could such savage and fierce spirits be so suddenly penetrated unless they had been prepared with immense effort. That in order to achieve this he was endowed with an admirable sanctity of life and performed very many miracles by divine power is beyond doubt. Moreover, so that religion might put down firmer roots, he also established communities of monks, as we have already seen, and himself lived in their company as far as was possible, as Paulinus testifies:

"With these men I pray, when the welcoming house of the holy brethren, Crowded with their sacred company, Has received you in their choirs, that you may hide us too In the love of your pious heart."

Hardly any barbarous nations were added to Christ except either through the work of monks, Monks among the Neophytes. or soon after through the establishment of monastic dwellings by their Apostles, so that there might be, as it were, seedbeds from which new teachers of saving doctrine might continually be raised up; so that by the example of the most upright life they might attract onlookers to piety; and finally, so that by the protection of holy prayers and sacrifices they might fortify the new flock and crush the efforts of the infernal enemy.

[15] As for the virtues of Nicetas, Paulinus chiefly celebrates his piety, and predicts that even while sailing, amid the crowd of passengers and with them also joining in, he would chant sacred hymns.

"The happy sailors," he says, The piety of Nicetas. "shall sing their accustomed sea-chant, With melodies turned into hymns, And with pious voices shall lead their companions Upon the sea. The tongue of Nicetas shall lead them all, Sounding like ^a resounding trumpet, Modulating Christ; David the harpist shall sing In alternating strains across the entire sea. The trembling sea-monsters shall hear the Amen, And the glad beasts with sportive swimming Shall approach from afar the Priest Singing to the Lord."

Concerning the same and other virtues, ^a little further on:

"May that same Guide lead this servant of his, Who once led Jacob, ^a fugitive from the threatening Face of his brother, into safety As his God. For Nicetas is equally ^a fugitive: What the Patriarch did once, He does always, fleeing from the world to the walls Of the lofty heaven. And those steps Similar to the patriarch Jacob. on which Jacob saw Angels going back and forth, He is content to climb above the clouds With ^a life that surpasses; Hastening through the ladders of the Cross to the stars, Where God, leaning forth from his bright thrones, Watches the various labors And battles of the mind. And you, Nicetas, well named Victor of the body, like him who was called Israel because he saw the supreme Sower With ^a lofty heart. Hence my Nicetas is proven to be A true Israelite without guile, Who sees God — Christ — with the light Of solid faith."

These and other things does Paulinus say about his Nicetas. Would that the glorious deeds accomplished by him had been committed to writing! We would doubtless have in them the express likeness of an illustrious Apostolic preacher.